When you’re expecting your third, the idea of maternity photos with kids can feel a little complicated. You’re not a first-time mom with a clear schedule and a quiet afternoon to spare. You have a toddler and a preschooler, a household running at full volume, and approximately zero guaranteed nap windows. A session that involves getting everyone dressed, out the door, and cooperative might sound like a lot.
But this pregnancy deserves to be documented too. And honestly, the lively, slightly unpredictable energy of a session with little ones in tow? It tends to make for some of the most genuine portraits of the whole year.
This family came to Bon Air Rose Garden in Arlington on a summer evening — mom expecting her third, two little ones in the mix, the whole crew. The kids were in full motion for most of it. We worked with that, not against it, and the images are all the better for it.
What Maternity Photos with Kids Actually Look Like
The short answer: a little chaotic, a lot of fun, and more beautiful than most parents expect.
With a toddler and a preschooler, you’re not going to get thirty minutes of sustained stillness. You don’t need it. What you’re actually capturing is the family as it exists right now — the running, the grabbing, the moments where one kid wanders off and the other is suddenly fascinated by a rosebush. Those in-between moments are often the ones parents end up loving most.
I structure sessions like this to move. We don’t linger in one spot waiting for everyone to settle. We follow the kids’ energy through the garden, and I work around them — pulling focus back to mom and dad when there’s a natural pause, capturing the full family when they’re all momentarily in the same place. It’s a different rhythm than a session with just a couple, but it’s a rhythm I’ve gotten comfortable with.
Why the Third Pregnancy Deserves Its Own Session
Third pregnancies often get less documentation than the first, simply because life is fuller. There’s less time to plan, fewer dedicated pregnancy milestones, and the focus tends to shift toward the family that’s already here.
But there’s something worth preserving about this particular moment — the last time your family looks like this, before it becomes something new. The older kids at their current ages, your belly, the four of you together before the fifth arrives. That configuration exists for a very short window.
A combined maternity and family session is a practical way to capture both things at once without adding another event to the calendar. You get the maternity portraits and the family portraits in a single evening.
Why Bon Air Rose Garden Works for Family Maternity Sessions
Bon Air Memorial Rose Garden in Arlington is a location I come back to often. It’s compact enough to cover efficiently — which matters when you have little ones with a limited attention window — but varied enough to give you real range within a single session. Open pathways, a pergola, dense rose beds, patches of open lawn.
For family sessions with young kids, the open lawn at the garden’s edge is particularly useful. It gives them somewhere to run without getting into the roses, and it photographs beautifully in the evening light. I can pull the family together for portraits and then let the kids loose, and we move between the two as the session flows.
The roses are in bloom from late spring through early fall, so there’s a generous window for scheduling. And the evening golden hour at Bon Air is genuinely special — the light comes in low and warm through the blooms in a way that flatters everyone, kids included.
What to Expect When You Schedule Maternity Photos With Kids
Plan for about an hour. That gives us enough time to work through the garden without anyone hitting a wall — including mom, who is, after all, in her third trimester with two kids already in motion around her.
I generally start with the full family while energy is highest, then move into some mom-and-dad portraits once the kids have had a chance to run a little and naturally lose interest in the camera. Little kids often wander away on their own timeline, and that’s fine — it usually creates a natural opening for quieter, more intimate portraits of the two of you.
One practical note: Bon Air Rose Garden is a popular spot, and other photographers do shoot there. I’ve photographed there enough times that I know exactly where I want to be and how to move through the space without waiting around. With young kids, that efficiency matters.
Book Your Family Maternity Session
I serve families throughout Northern Virginia and the DC area — Arlington, McLean, Falls Church, Fairfax, and beyond — from my studio in Old Town Alexandria. If you’re expecting and want to capture this season of your family before it changes, I’d love to talk through what a session could look like for you.
Outdoor maternity sessions book four to six weeks in advance during bloom season. Reach out through the contact form here and we’ll find a time that works.
You may also be interested in these posts:
A Golden Hour Maternity Session at Bon Air Rose Garden
Beat the Heat: The Best Time for Summer Family Photos in Northern Virginia
Maternity Session FAQs
1 thought on “Maternity Photos with Kids: A Family Session at Bon Air Rose Garden”
Such a beautiful session! <3